Negative claim-free years

What are negative claim-free years?

For every year that you don't file a claim on your auto insurance, you earn one claim-free year. These years entitle you to a discount on your auto insurance. The more claim-free years you have, the bigger your discount and the cheaper your auto insurance becomes.

After, say, 10 claim-free years, you'll have earned a significant discount. For example, you'll receive a 75% discount on your auto insurance.

However, if you file a claim, you’ll lose an average of 5 claim-free years. If you file multiple claims and have fewer than 5 claim-free years, you’ll go into the negative: you’ll then have negative claim-free years.

This poses an increased risk to insurers, which means you'll pay more for your insurance.

The Consequences of Negative Claim-Free Years

Negative claim-free years have a significant impact:

• Higher premium: You will no longer receive a no-claims discount; instead, you will be charged a premium surcharge. For example, if you have 5 years of claims, you’ll pay 15% more.
• No-Claims Record: Your position on the no-claims ladder is negative, which insurers can see in the Roy data.
• Limited options for switching insurers: Many insurers refuse to accept customers with a negative no-claims record. In that case, your only option is to turn to specialized providers such as de Vereende.

For a single insurance claim, you go back 5 years

If you file an insurance claim, you’ll lose 5 claim-free years all at once. As a result, you’ll lose part of the discount you’ve built up.

The expiration period for claim-free years

Both positive and negative claim-free years are typically carried over for 3 years. Some insurers take negative years into account for 4 or 5 years.

Your claim-free years expire if you cancel your insurance and do not take out a new policy within 3 years. Do you want to temporarily suspend your auto insurance? Even then, your claim-free years remain valid for 3 years.

Recording of negative claim-free years in Roy-data

Insurers record claim-free years in the Roy-data system. If you cancel your insurance policy, your insurer will record the number of claim-free years you have. This means your new insurer will be able to see if you have a penalty on record.

Here's How to Get Rid of Negative Claim-Free Years

Negative claim-free years are a hassle because they cause your premium to go up. Taking out a new car insurance policy and concealing your claims history is not a good idea. Insurers consider this to be fraud.

Here's how you can actually get rid of your negative no-claims years:

• Build up new claim-free years by driving without filing a claim. This takes a long time, because a single claim costs you 5 claim-free years. So, after 5 years of claim-free driving, the effect of a single claim is finally erased.
• Sometimes, a one-time lump-sum payment is more cost-effective than a higher premium. This is called buying out negative no-claims years.

Buying Out Negative No-Claim Years

Buying out your claim-free years means that you cover the cost of the claim yourself. This prevents you from losing your claim-free years. The maximum period for repaying the claim varies by insurer. It is usually 1 year.

Is it wise to pay for the damage yourself?

Always consider the amount of the damage. Is it a significant amount? If so, paying out of pocket is often too expensive. It’s usually a good idea to pay for damage up to about €1,000 yourself. This also depends on:

• Your car.
• How many claim-free years you'll retain if you don't pay for the damage yourself.
• Your financial situation.

Insuring Your Car When You Have a Negative Claims-Free Record

You are required to purchase at least third-party liability insurance for your car. However, insurers are not required to accept your insurance application. If you have a record of claims, you may not be able to obtain auto insurance from all insurers.

We always try to place you with a standard insurance company first. If that doesn’t work out, you can always turn to De Vereende. De Vereende specializes in insuring special risks. Here, you can also get auto insurance even if you have a negative claims-free record.

Are you buying out your negative claim-free years? If so, you don’t have to take out car insurance with Vereende. You can take out car insurance with a regular insurance company. That way, you’ll save a lot of money on your insurance premium.

Switching Insurers with Negative Claim-Free Years

Are you switching to a different insurance policy? If so, the new insurer will check your claim-free years in Roy-Data. Not every insurer accepts negative claim-free years; they consider you too high a risk. Here are two tips:

1. Don't cancel your current insurance policy too soon. If you're denied coverage and you've already canceled your old policy, your previous insurer won't be able to reinstate your coverage.
2. Don't switch insurers until you've had a full, claims-free year. This is because insurers only record full, claims-free years in Roy-Data.

Even new drivers start in the red

A new driver has not yet accumulated any claim-free years. If a claim is filed, the insurer deducts 5 claim-free years from the total. You will then have a negative claim-free year count, meaning you have negative claim-free years on your record. An experienced driver also faces this risk if he or she files multiple claims in a row.